Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is an upcoming action-adventure video game being developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the sixth major installment in the Assassin’s Creed series and a sequel to 2012’s Assassin’s Creed III, though it is a prequel in its ancestral storyline.

The game was released on PC, PlayStation 3, Wii U and Xbox 360, PS4 and Xbox One in October and November 2013. [reference]

Development

The game is a prequel in terms of the ancestral storyline in which you play Connor Kenway’s grandfather, set primarily on and around the islands in the Caribbean Sea during the early 18th century. In the summer of 2011, the team started developing the idea with a pirate game as their primary focus.

It wanted the game to be as accurate on the era as possible, stating away from clichés associated with pirates such as talking parrots, Krakens and plank walking. The game world is vast compared to ACIII the majority of the game plays out on the vast open ocean. The scope and open-world game play are also slated to be bigger and grander – this is what motivated the team to make Black Flag a sequel rather than a spin-off.

Senior producer Hugues Ricour stated that the game will still be developed first on the PC, then be ported over to consoles later. Five studios are helping Ubisoft Montreal develop Black Flag. He stated in an interview “So we do work on a high-end PC, and that helps, that simplifies things. We are discovering these opportunities for Assassin’s Creed in general so we know games are becoming more social, more connected, and we know this next generation is going to help us. [reference]

Assassin’s Creed, originally, was a very single player focused game but we have a section of our audience that loves the multiplayer. However, a lot of our fans are very engaged with the story, and the narrative, so how do we combine this with a connected experience? It’s still to be defined and we have a few good ideas. The game will remain true to its roots, and its roots are in the narrative and immersing the player into an experience and a story.”

Story

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag’s story, like previous games in the series, is divided into two parts. One takes place in the present day and the other in a historical setting, with the events of each influencing the story as you progress through the game. Although the present-day story had previously established that an Animus was required to view one’s ancestor’s memories, the ending of Assassin’s Creed III implies that Desmond’s genetic memories have now been uploaded on to the Cloud.

As such, the player character is hired by Abstergo Entertainment of Abstergo Industries to investigate an essential key moment in Desmond’s ancestry – the Assassin Edward Kenway and Connor Kenway’s grandfather. A notorious pirate and privateer operating during the Age of Piracy, Kenway’s story is set in the Caribbean as he travels to Havana, Nassau and Kingston. Among famous historical figures appearing in the game will be legendary pirate Blackbeard. [reference]

Gameplay

Assassin’s Creed IV will have a more open world feel and feature 50 locations to explore, with a balance between land and naval exploration. Compared to Assassins Creed III, the story and world of ACIV opens up much sooner. The player will travel across jungles, forts, and small villagesand the world has been improved upon to allow players much more freedom, such as engaging, boarding and capturing passing ships and swimming to nearby beaches. [reference]

ACIII’s hunting elements have also been retained but now players can on the sea as well as on land. Gameplay footage has shown Edward Kenway hunting whales from his ship.

Naval combat is more complex and refined in Assassin’s Creed IV. It will feature new weapons and enemies along with a new progression system for upgrading one’s ship. The hidden blade makes a return but the player will also have access to newer weapons including the dual wielding swords and flintlock pistols can be equipped to allow four shots in successive sequences. [reference]

The game also includes free aiming controls which allow you to run and fire.

Lead writer Darby McDevitt expanded on the gameplay in an interview, stating that, “This mission starts here and has to end up with this guy dead. Then I work really closely with them to find out what gameplay happens in the middle so that the player feels like he’s playing through a story.[reference]

We wrangle all those gameplay mechanics, and we say, ‘What can we do? We can sail, we can shoot, we can climb, we can jump, we can tail, we can chase…’ You come up with all those verbs, and you string them together into cool combinations so hopefully you’re telling the story at the same time as you’re doing cool gameplay.”